September 2016

The few tenants who still remain in a decrepit, downtown apartment building that the city has declared “preliminarily… unfit for human occupancy” are having a hard time finding other housing they can afford.

NJP attorneys David Morales and Blanca Rodriguez participated in a forum intended to start discussions about sexual harassment in the agricultural workforce. Rodriguez said she sees three important factors for addressing sexual harassment or violence toward farm workers: litigation, education of workers so they know when to report inappropriate behavior, and an increase in services to keep victims safe and support their recovery.

Two legal battles dealing with Madison Park — the micro housing and commons building for homeless people — are to be heard in Walla Walla County Superior Court on Monday. Northwest Justice Project, representing the Walla Walla Alliance for the Homeless, the group that wants to build Madison Park, has filed an appeal seeking removal of restricitons placed on the Madison Park project.

NJP attorney Chelsea Hicks represents one of two sisters involved in lawsuits against Green Tree Loan Servicing for failing to honor home loan modifications. NJP Board member Omar Vicente Barraza’s office is representing the other sister.

The King County Sheriff’s Office disbanded its Domestic Violence Investigations Unit in 2009 due to budget cuts, but since the unit was re-formed in 2015, prosecutors have so far this year noticed a spike in the number of felony cases being referred for charges.

Studies from Washington state, Baltimore, and New York all confirm that LGBTQ people face many of the same struggles as others living in poverty. However, the combination of being both poor and LGBTQ creates a unique set of challenges, limiting their ability to escape poverty.